10 Days Till Arizona Football: Looking Back at a Receiving Star

The countdown continues as we are now officially 10 days away from the season opener for Arizona against Hawaii. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be taking a look back at some of the top players in Arizona football history by jersey number as we inch closer towards the start of the season for the Wildcats.

We continue with former Arizona WR Mike Thomas who played with the Wildcats from 2005-08.

As a freshman, Thomas caught 52 passes for 771 yards and five touchdowns. He added five carries for 40 yards on the ground with another score. In another limited role as a sophomore, Thomas caught 50 passes for 597 yards and two touchdowns with another 68 yards and a score on the ground. 

It was his junior year when Thomas broke out for the Wildcats. He hauled in 83 passes for 1038 yards and 11 touchdowns. He added another 173 yards on the ground and a score on 10 carries. To cap off his four years at Arizona, Thomas caught 74 passes for 825 yards and four touchdowns with another 114 yards and a score on the ground.

Overall at Arizona, Thomas started 39 of the 48 games he appeared in. He caught 259 passes for 3,231 yards and 22 touchdowns. He added another 395 yards and three scores on the ground across 45 carries. During the time, Thomas set freshman records at Arizona and the 259 passes he caught were then a school and Pac-10 record. 

Thomas went on to be drafted in the fourth round of the 2009 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars. He caught 48 passes for 453 yards and one touchdown as a rookie with the Jaguars. He started four of the 14 games he appeared in that year. One memorable play he had in year two with Jacksonville back in 2010 was a Hail Mary he caught from QB David Garrard that was batted down at the goal line and hit Thomas in his chest before he stepped into the end zone.

Thomas was later traded to the Detroit Lions in 2012 before he was released by them in 2013. He later spent short stints with the Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans before spending a year in the Canadian Football League with the Toronto Argonauts.